H-1B visa delay. Please Help. Background Check

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gsingh_minhas

Registered Users (C)
Hi All

My company has a Sales office in Hong Kong and I came for a business trip to Hong Kong on May 28, 2004. H-1B stamped on my passport was valid till May 1, 2004. But i had a I-797 A approval with me before the expiry of the stamp. So i applied for H-1B visa at the US Consulate in Hong Kong. I have been in US for 5 years and also have a MS degree in USA.
The immigration officer at the Consulate told me that i will get the visa but need to wait 14 days for the background check from Washington DC. Its been a month already and i am stuck here in Hong Kong waiting for the background check. Now the US Consulate in Hong Kong says they cannot tell when the security clearance will come from Washington DC. I don't think my work area falls under TAL.
My passport was returned back to me and the previous expired visas were stamped with "Cancelled without Prejudice". There is no indication of application received stamped on the passport or 221g.
My company's attorney has advised me against withdrawing my application from US Consulate in Hong Kong and reapply from India.
I am stuck here in Hong Kong and don't know what to do. Please advise. Is there anything i can do to get the time estimate for the processing ?

Thanks a lot.

Gurpreet
 
gsingh_minhas said:
Hi All

My company has a Sales office in Hong Kong and I came for a business trip to Hong Kong on May 28, 2004. H-1B stamped on my passport was valid till May 1, 2004. But i had a I-797 A approval with me before the expiry of the stamp. So i applied for H-1B visa at the US Consulate in Hong Kong. I have been in US for 5 years and also have a MS degree in USA.
The immigration officer at the Consulate told me that i will get the visa but need to wait 14 days for the background check from Washington DC. Its been a month already and i am stuck here in Hong Kong waiting for the background check. Now the US Consulate in Hong Kong says they cannot tell when the security clearance will come from Washington DC. I don't think my work area falls under TAL.
My passport was returned back to me and the previous expired visas were stamped with "Cancelled without Prejudice". There is no indication of application received stamped on the passport or 221g.
My company's attorney has advised me against withdrawing my application from US Consulate in Hong Kong and reapply from India.
I am stuck here in Hong Kong and don't know what to do. Please advise. Is there anything i can do to get the time estimate for the processing ?

Thanks a lot.

Gurpreet
Click to expand...
---- Ask your company attorney and go according to his advice, why you stayed in HongKong with expired H1Visa? and then applied H1 in HK it was wrong move on your part.
 
Hi Ginnu

Thanks for your reply. Actually before coming to Hong Kong my stamped visa was expired already. But my I-797 approval for the H-1B renewal is dated before the expiry of the visa stamp. And i asked my company attorney before making this trip. They told me that it is ok to apply from Hong Kong, even if it is not my home country. Now he just advises that i should just wait for the response from the US Consulate and the attorney advises against withdrawing th application here and applying from india again.

Right now i am not sure what else to do other than just wait.

Gurpreet
 
gsingh_minhas said:
Hi Ginnu

Thanks for your reply. Actually before coming to Hong Kong my stamped visa was expired already. But my I-797 approval for the H-1B renewal is dated before the expiry of the visa stamp.

And i asked my company attorney before making this trip. They told me that it is ok to apply from Hong Kong, even if it is not my home country. Now he just advises that i should just wait for the response from the US Consulate and the attorney advises against withdrawing th application here and applying from india again.
---Sardar Gurpreet Singh Minhas ji. It was wrong advice from your company lawyer, you were supposed to get Visa from India( It seems to me that you are from Bombay, relative of Papu(Jaspal) and Billa, are you?, now you can wait for the responce if company is paying for your stay in HK
Right now i am not sure what else to do other than just wait.
---- just wait for few more days
Good Luck!!
Gurpreet
Click to expand...
 
yeah thats what i figured. There is not much i cannot do other than wait. Well i am planning to go to india and work from there remotely till my visa comes through. Till now my experience with our attorney has been good, but it seems like he messed it up this time.
Well, can't do anything about it but wait.
 
oh i m sorry i missed the Jaspal and Billu part. Nop none of them are my relatives. But it seems like before making this trip i had some ginnu affect which had blocked my mind. I hope it does not last long enough.
 
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